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Falcated Duck

The swans, geese and ducks are mid-sized to large birds most commonly found on or near water. Most have plump bodies, long necks and short wings. Most feed while on the water, diving or merely tilting their bodies so that their heads and necks are submerged to search for fish, plants and invertebrates. Washington representatives of the order all belong to one family:

The waterfowl family is represented in Washington by two distinct groups—the geese and swans, and the ducks. Whistling-ducks are also considered a distinct subfamily, and, although they have not been sighted in Washington in many years, Fulvous Whistling-Ducks have been recorded historically in Washington and remain on the official state checklist. All members of the waterfowl family have large clutches of precocial young. They hatch covered in down and can swim and eat on their own almost immediately after hatching.

General Description

Once known as the Falcated Teal, this East Asian native is about the size of the Gadwall and the American Wigeon, but with a heavier-bodied, larger-headed appearance. The spectacular male has an iridescent green- and coppery-toned head, white throat, mostly gray body, and long, sickle-shaped tertial feathers curving downward over the rump and tail. The female is similar to the female wigeon, but plainer, with a black bill.

The Falcated Duck breeds from southern Siberia to northeast China, Korea, and northern Japan, wintering to southern Japan, east and south China, and Vietnam. It is a rare vagrant to the Aleutian Islands and rarer still along the Pacific Coast of North America. Washington has three records, all from near coasts: January 1979 from the Naselle River (Pacific County), July 1993 at Sequim (Clallam County), and February–March 2002 at Samish Island (Skagit County). In British Columbia, a Falcated Duck returned to Tofino on Vancouver Island for three winters in a row, to 1996. Another bird has wintered at Coburg, Oregon, for four years through 2007.